What a delightful gem of a book! I'm especially impressed as this appears to be the author's debut work. I would describe this as a cozy romantasy with wonderful characters who feel real and a plot that still offers adventure.

The book is mostly told through the POV of the FMC, Mavery, a thief trying for one last score in order to leave her life of crime behind but inadvertently finds that new life in the employ of her mark, the wizard and professor Alain. We do also occasionally get some POV chapters from Alain, which are a nice addition. I absolutely loved these two. They both felt so authentically real. There's no insta love, no uber melodrama, and no high angst here. They're just both adults who have some issues they're dealing with. I especially loved how Mavery wasn't afraid to call Alain out in the beginning when he was being a bit of an academic snob to her. And while the two do keep secrets from each other at first, the reasons make sense and don't go on to a ridiculous length - all big secrets are out in the open by halfway through.

And watching their relationship develop was just so wonderful! They started out a bit wary, then slowly built their way to friends and eventually to lovers. The pacing of it was great - not too slow, not too fast. I thought the pacing overall worked pretty well too. Although the focus is on the two MCs and their budding relationship, the author never totally forgets the plot. I found some of the later scenes especially fun as there's definitely an Indiana Jones-adventuring vibe going on. That said, this is definitely a cozy book, so it's never what I would call a fast-paced book, but it's not supposed to be. This was one I really enjoyed just sitting with and enjoying the ambience.

As for the world building, I really liked the magic system the author created. It was fairly simple while still feeling original. I'm also convinced the author has spent time in higher education! Her many little cracks at the foibles of academics were so spot on and had me smiling.

I was almost put off by the author's content warning right at the front, but I'm glad I decided to give it a go anyway. Yes, there is violence, but it isn't glorified, and the bad consequences are shown clearly. Yes, there is sex, but it isn't trivialized or casual, and when it gets explicit (which it does), it's after a lot of character development, and in a committed relationship that we've watched develop over time.

In fact, this book is strong in ways that a lot of books I come across are weak: worldbuilding, character development, and especially the romance plot. I don't believe I've seen a better romance plot, in fact, one in which the couple are both genuinely appealing; they actually have excellent reasons for not acting on their attraction <i>and sensibly decide not to do so until those reasons are resolved, like adults</i>; and the tension is built up masterfully over a long period of the development of the relationship, rather than the all-too-common "instalove, now fall into bed" approach. Top marks for the romance.

The worldbuilding is subtle, without a lot of infodumping, but it has plausible month names and day-of-the-week names, a 28-hour day, a pantheon with assigned areas of responsibility (that some people believe in and some don't), and several different schools of magic. Standard stuff, but it's dealt with in the background rather than being placed where you'll trip over it. There's an appendix that explains it all, but you don't need to read it to keep from getting confused, because it's revealed in context that makes it clear, as worldbuilding should be.

The main characters are, as I said, appealing, but damaged realistically by their backstories (not in a way that turns them awful, though). It's like a [author:T. Kingfisher|7367300] book in that way. The secondary characters also have a bit of depth to them; they're not just one-note. They can be a loyal friend who's also annoyingly boisterous and not that deep, a mother who's cold but, in her own way, caring, a toxic ex who's also going through his own stuff and has a genuine grievance, and so on. They have layers.

In terms of editing, the commas and apostrophes are in the right places (which is notable, these days), and the past perfect tense is used where it needs to be (also notable), though sometimes the form of the verb in the past perfect is wrong, and there are other verb tense slips. There are also quite a few mangled idioms, and some passages of probably the worst pseudo-archaic dialog I've ever seen, which is saying something. That last factor was bad enough to drop it down a tier in my annual Best of the Year rankings; it was going to be Gold, but I can't give a Gold-tier ranking to a book that murders early modern English grammar like that. Note, as always, that what I saw was a pre-publication version from Netgalley, and may not reflect the state of the published book, especially as I plan to alert the publisher to some of the more egregious issues via Netgalley's feedback form.

Overall, with a bit of a tune-up it would be excellent, and even as it is, it's solidly above average. I hope there will be more in this world and with these characters.

A Tower of Half-Truths was such a pleasant read.

The writing is well-constructed and solid. The characters are thought-out and well-rounded. And the plot was unexpected and refreshing.

Every time I got to a part where I thought I knew what would come next or the cliche character tropes, it went the opposite way. I found that really refreshing.

This isn't the most dramatic book - the pacing is even, so the book flows from one situation to another. Don't get me wrong - it doesn't mean it's boring or lacklustre! Prynne doesn't rely on Days-Of-Our-Lives level cliff-hangers to keep the reader interested. Instead, artfully crafted characters and well-earned relationships get you invested!

It was beautiful to see a relationship truly blossom in this story - it's not 'insta-love' but something that gradually builds and invites the reader along for the ride. Also - it's so damn nice to see an FMC and MMC who isn't a teenager! There are still a few love scenes, and they are *chefs-kiss* immaculate. They don't detract from the story or relationship and are grown-up levels of spice (I don't mean X-rated, though they are explicit. Alain and Mavery are not hormonal-teens, and they've been around the block, so to speak)

"Are you expecting me to wake the entire inn again?"...."No, my love." He spoke with the low, rough voice he'd used the other night. "With what I have planned, you would wake the entire village."

My only drawback was that the world was so exceptionally crafted and cleverly delivered that I wanted more. The ending could have been bigger - though I can respect that it wouldn't be true to the rest of the book/style. I wanted to explore more about the wizards, the history, the different magic types, the demonspawn! But I suppose I'll have to wait for the next instalment....

Review shared on Goodreads (3/10) and will be shared on Amazon once available.